


Does he have a girlfriend?

by Mystical_giggles



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Aged up characters, Established Relationship, High School, M/M, Misunderstandings, canon comliant, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 11:02:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20241787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystical_giggles/pseuds/Mystical_giggles
Summary: “Basketball captain?” She said surprised. “But I thought he was a Junior?” She had kind of figured as much since they had chemistry class together.“He is,” Zoey said absently, as she watched TJ.Sam turned her attention back to TJ as well and felt even more intrigued by the boy. A junior would never have become the captain of any of the sports team at her old school. TJ Kippen just kept getting better and better.(Or: TJ catches the new girl's eyes and she decides to try and get him to ask her out. Her plans are ruined when she realises that he is already taken but she ends up misunderstanding who he is actully dating.)





	Does he have a girlfriend?

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the outsider POV thing so I decided to write this story about them in High School that I couldn't get out of my head. Enjoy!

When Sam and her family packed up their things to move to Shadyside, she wasn’t exactly enthusiastic. It meant that she had to leave all of her high school and childhood friends behind and the thought of having to make all new friends in her junior year of high school wasn’t exactly an exciting one. She knew how high school worked. People were desperate to find their clique as fast as possible and a few months into freshman year, it was almost impossible to infiltrate another group.

But it hadn't really mattered what she wanted in the end. Her dad had gotten a job offer in the town and after only two months they had packed up all their things and said goodbye to the only home Sam had ever known.

Three days in to her stay in Shadyside hadn’t really changed her mind about the town. Everything was bland and lifeless. The cafes all closed at seven and at ten you could walk all through town without seeing a living soul. 

The high school wasn’t that impressive either. Her old school had about 10 000 students but Grant high barely had 2000. The teachers she had meet so far weren’t too bad but they had an annoying habit of having her present herself to everyone each time she attended a new class.

The only thing the High School had going for it were the attractive boys. Her old school had had their fair share as well but they couldn’t compete with the ones she had seen here. The guys here actually seemed like they gave a shit about their appearance and they seemed a lot more mature. There was one boy in particular that had caught Sam’s attention. 

TJ Kippen.

They had chemistry together and Sam couldn’t help but sneak glances at him every time the teacher wasn’t looking. There was just something about him that drew her in. He had this easy confidence about him, as if he didn’t care what people thought about him. He was tall and lean with tousled blonde hair that flopped onto his forehead. 

The best part about him though, was his smile. He had the kind of smile that immediately made you relax and feel calm. It lit up his whole face and made Sam desperately want it to be directed at her. 

From the moment she saw TJ Kippen, she knew she had to try and get him.

But she knew she couldn’t just ask him out. No, they were in completely different planes of the Grant High hierarchy. She knew TJ was popular and had a lot of friends, they always surrounded him between classes, and she was completely new to the school and barely knew anybody. 

No, she couldn’t just ask him out. She had to work her way up and do the research that was needed

But if she just had a little patience, she was sure it would all be worth it.

  
  
  
  
  


“Why are you standing here and staring at TJ Kippen?” Zoey asked. 

Zoey was a fairly new student as well and had only gotten there a few weeks before Sam. Their friendship had therefore come pretty naturally.

Sam looked at Zoey as the girl came up to stand beside her but didn’t answer and instead went back to checking TJ out.

He was wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt and white sneakers. He was in the process of picking out his textbooks from his locker but was being distracted by two other guys who had come up to chat with him.

“You think he is attractive?” Zoey asked.

“Don’t you?” Sam countered and raised her eyebrows.

“Of course I do, it’s TJ Kippen!” Zoey shout-whispered to her and gestured toward him. “He’s like one of the hottest guys in the school!”

Sam didn’t disagree.

“Well what do you know about him?” She asked and looked on as TJ laughed at something one of the guys said.

“Not much really, I haven’t been here long enough. But I do know he’s the captain of the basketball team.” That made Sam finally turn around and face Zoey. 

“Basketball captain?” She said surprised. “But I thought he was a Junior?” She had kind of figured as much since they had chemistry class together.

“He is,” Zoey said absently, as she watched TJ.

Sam turned her attention back to TJ as well and felt even more intrigued by the boy. A junior would never have become the captain of any of the sports team at her old school. TJ Kippen just kept getting better and better.

“I’m gonna try and get him,” she said as TJ fist bumped the two boys and closed his locker. 

“What? TJ?” Zoey asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” Sam said and shrugged. She turned around and started walking towards her next class. 

“Are you going to ask him out?” Zoey asked when she caught up to her. 

“No,” Sam said and rounded the corner. She smirked to herself as she said the next words.

“I’m gonna get him to ask  _ me  _ out.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


Her first face to face encounter with TJ happened five days into her time at Grant. She was about to have her first history class and she was pleased to find that it was another class her and TJ shared. He walked in five minutes early to class and it was only Sam and another student there. He waved to the other student, a dark haired boy sitting in the corner, and started heading his way, but paused as his eyes fell on Sam. 

To her surprise, he walked up to where she was sitting and gave her a friendly smile. 

“You’re new here, right?” He asked and tilted his head. It was one of the cutest thing Sam had ever seen and she could feel her heart rate pick up. 

“Yeah, I’m Samantha. Or Sam, really,” she said and gave out a little laugh. TJ put his hand out to shake hers. Sam took it and basked in the attention he was giving her.

“TJ,” he said and gave her another one of the signature TJ Kippen smiles. “So how are you liking Grants?” 

She smiled at him. “It’s okay, a little smaller than what I’m used to, but okay.” She tried to come up with something to keep the conversation going and something that would impress TJ. “They seem to have a lot of good sports team so I guess that’s nice.”

It seemed to be the right thing to say because TJ’s eyes lit up in an instant.

“You play any sports?”

She nodded her head. “I’ve done volleyball and some basketball.” This was actually true. She had done volleyball her whole sophomore and junior year, but she had played basketball in middle school. She had actually really enjoyed it, but her high school hadn’t had any teams for her to join so then she had ended up with volleyball instead.

“You should try out for the team here then!” TJ said excitedly. “Grants got a really good girls team and I could talk to the captain, Buffy, if you want to. I’m sure she would love to have you try out even though the season has already started.”

That actually sounded a lot of fun and would be a great way for her to climb the social ladder.

“That’d be cool,” she said. “Do you play any sports as well?” She asked even though she already knew the answer.

“Yeah I’m on the boys team,” he said as a few more students filled in to the room. 

“Yeah I think I remember hearing something about that. Team captain, right?” She said, trying to sound casual.

As if he wasn’t perfect already, her words made TJ blush and he actually looked surprised at the fact that she knew this. Everyone knew that the people that were popular but didn’t realize themselves, were the most irresistible ones.

“Yeah, I am,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. “But you should try out for the girls team, I think it would-“ he was interrupted by a boy putting his arm around his neck. 

Sam recognizes the boy as John. She had seen him around the school and was friends when one of the guys she had Math with.

“Always trying to recruit people to the basketball teams aren’t you TJ,” the boy said. He looked over at Sam and pointed a finger at TJ. “Don’t listen to this guy. There are more sports in the world other than basketball. TJ here just haven’t figured it out yet.” 

Sam knee that John was on the schools badminton team and from what she had heard he was really talented as well. She didn’t know how reliable that was though since most of those words had come from John himself.

TJ opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted once again when the teacher came in and told everyone to get to their seat so they could start the class.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Sam was sitting opposite Henry from her Math class at lunch. Another thing to add of the never ending lists of disappointments of Grant high. The school cafeteria didn’t have a lot to offer and what they actually had to offer was tasteless at best. 

At least the view was good, she thought as she picked around in her food. TJ was sitting a few tables away surrounded by his friends. She could see the girl that someone had told her was named Buffy, the captain of the girls basketball team, sitting opposite TJ next to a boy with short dark blonde hair. Right next to TJ, a boy with dark hair, was seated. He had big brown eyes that were framed by thick lashes and a cute face though he wasn’t really Sam’s type. The boy was talking while using his hands a lot and TJ was watching him with a smile on his face. The boy said something that made everyone at the table laugh and TJ ruffled the boys hair before taking a sip from his drink.

She looked at Henry who, for some reason, didn’t seem to have any problems at all with the bland cafeteria food. He was shoving it in at a quick pace while looking at something on his phone. Sam liked Henry even if he was a bit much sometimes. They lived really close to each other and would often ride the bus to and from school together. Henry was a junior like her and they shared a few classes with each other as well. 

It occurred to her that Henry might be a good person to get the information she wanted about TJ. He was a pretty social guy from what she had seen, and she knew he and TJ had a few classes together as well.

She looked at him as he continued to devour his food and then asked, “Do you know TJ Kippen?” 

Henry looked up from his phone but didn’t stop shoving food in his mouth. “I mean, kinda. We went to the same middle school before Grant,” he said. He furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”

Sam shrugged. “We have a few classes together. He just seems like a really nice guy.”

Henry nodded his head and took a sip of his drink. When he swallowed, he said, “Yeah, I mean he is. Which is kind of funny since he used to be sort of a dick when we were in middle school.”

Sam raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”

She had a hard time picturing that version of TJ since she had never seen him be anything but nice to people. 

“Yeah, but he became like a whole different person when he got together with-“ Henry stopped mid sentence when John put down his tray with a loud thump. 

“So guess who just got detention?” John said and rolled his eyes in annoyance. He sat down at their table and started to go on a rant about one of their teachers. 

He and Henry continued talking, unknowing that Henry had just revealed something that had ruined all of Sam’s plans.

  
  
  
  
  


So TJ had a girlfriend.

Sam was more upset about this than she would like to admit. But she also knew the whole thing had been to good to be true. Of course TJ has a girlfriend, he was the perfect guy. Good looking, friendly, outgoing, smart etc. It just hurt because she had felt like she was just starting to make actual progress in her plan to seduce TJ Kippen. But know it turned out that she had never really stood any chance at all.

It was pretty obvious who the girlfriend was too; Buffy Driscoll. The two of them were almost always together and she had even seen TJ put his arm around her when they walked through the hallways towards class. And it was just so obvious as well. They were the perfect couple; the two captains of the basketball teams dating each other. It was disgustingly sweet and it made Sam want to roll her eyes at the whole situation. 

“So apparently TJ isn’t single so my chances are pretty much screwed,” she said to Zoey as she stood by her locker.

Zoey looked at her and gave her a sympathetic look, “Yeah I heard about that just now, I’m really sorry.”

Sam leaned back against the locker next Zoey’s and sighed. “No it’s fine.” Even though it was obviously not. “I bet that it’s that girl Buffy Driscoll,” she said bitterly. “The two of them are always hanging out.

“Actually-“ Zoey started but Sam cut her off. 

“You know what it really  _ is  _ fine, those two deserve each other. And apparently they are perfect for each other as well,” she said and thought of what Henry had been saying about TJ being a dick before they started dating. 

Zoey started to say something again but was cut of by the bell. 

Sam sighed again. “Can’t believe I have to go to class with TJ now and know that he’s completely unavailable.” She started walking towards her class. “See you later.”

She left Zoey, who was wearing kind of a strange expression, at her locker and hurried to make it to chemistry class in time.

  
  
  
  
  
  


It was the third game of the season and Sam had decided to go just to torture herself some more with the whole TJ Kippen ordeal.

She was sitting next to some girls that she hadn’t really talked that much to but one of the girls was in her chemistry class and had asked her if she wanted to join them. 

It was actually a fun game to look at and Grants basketball team was really impressive. She couldn’t deny that the most impressive player was TJ. He zigzagged around the players with ease and almost never missed a shot.

During half time Sam saw TJ look up onto the bleachers and wink at someone in the audience. She followed his gaze and sure enough, there was Buffy seated next to some of TJ’s other friends. 

Sam could feel her good mood decrease instantly.

The game continued on and when it ended, Grant had won big time and the audience erupted into cheers. 

Sam joined them and stood up like the rest of the people on the bleachers were doing. She could see TJ on the court, surrounded by the rest of his teammates. They all had their arms around each other and were whooping with joy. 

After a while TJ directed his attention to outside the group and broke of from the group. His face split into a big smile as his eyes fell on something in front of him. 

Sam thought she knew who he was looking at but when she searched for Buffy she found the girl in a totally different direction than TJ was looking, talking to one of the guys on the team who had also broken of from their group. She followed TJ’s gaze and instead saw the dark haired boy that she had seen sit with TJ at lunch several times. He was making his way through the crowd of people that were now on the court. When he finally came to a part where the court was empty of people, he broke into a run. TJ met him halfway and the boy threw himself around TJ’s neck. 

To Sam’s surprise, TJ wrapped his arms around the boy, lifted him up and spun him around.

And she was even more surprised at what happened next. TJ put the boy down but neither of them released their hold on each other. The boy said something to TJ that made him smile even wider and then he reached down and kissed the boy. 

Sam blinked.  _ Was this really happening? _ She looked around to see if anyone else was caught of guard by what was happening. Most people didn’t seem surprised at all of what was happening but a few boys on the team were looking at TJ and the boy and wolf whistled. But neither of them looked like they had just discovered that their captain was cheating on his girlfriend. 

And that’s when realization hit Sam.

_ Oooohhhh _

She almost wanted to smack herself for being so stupid. There had never been a girlfriend, it had always just been a boyfriend. Her stupid heteronormative brain had just assumed that it was Buffy because the thought of the captain of the basketball team being together with a guy, hadn’t even occurred to her. 

She looked back towards Buffy and saw that she was holding hands with one of the boys on the team that she had been talking to before. Sam almost felt bad for thinking so many mean thoughts about Buffy while she thought she was together with TJ. Even if she had been together with TJ, it wouldn’t really have been fair since she hadn’t done anything wrong. 

She looked back to where TJ and the boy were still standing together, but now a few of the boys from the team had joined them. TJ had his arm around the shorter boys shoulders and the group were all laughing at something the boy was saying.

Sam tried to push away the pang of jealousy that she felt when watching them. The whole thing with Buffy had taught her a lesson. There was no reason to dislike a person just because they had something you didn’t.

But it was still hard to look at the two boys together so she stood up, said goodbye to the girls and then walked out of the gym.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Three days later she found herself back to staring at TJ Kippen again at the lockers, only this time, the dark haired boy was with him. 

She had been avoiding going by TJ’s locker the past few days and had been surprised when she’d seen him by another locker who seemed to belong to the other boy. TJ was leaning against the locker next to the one the boy was taking his stuff out of and the two of them were talking but Sam was too far away to hear what they were saying. 

They both had matching smiles on their faces and as Sam looked at them, she couldn’t help but think about how obvious it had all been. All of the interactions that she had witnessed between the two boys had been filled with affectionate looks and touches and if she hadn’t been so caught up in the idea that TJ was together with Buffy, she was sure that she would have figured out the truth immediately.

As they talked, TJ reached out a hand and the boy interlaced their fingers absently, almost as if it was a reflex and something he didn’t have to think about. 

“What’s up?” Came a voice to her left. She tore her gaze from TJ and the boy and found John standing next to her. 

She couldn’t help the question that came out of her mouth. 

“Who’s that boy that TJ’s with?”

John looked over to where TJ and the boy were still holding hands and then back at her.

“You mean Cyrus Goodman?”

_ Cyrus Goodman,  _ Sam thought, satisfied to finally have a name for the boy. 

“And they are together?” She asked and nodded her head in TJ’s and Cyrus’s direction.

John let out a snort. “Yeah only since like forever. I’m pretty sure they have been together since middle school or something,” he said. Then he asked, “why do you ask?”

Sam shrugged. “No reason.”

John gave her a weird look.

“Are you homophobic or something,” he said hesitantly. “Because that’s really not cool.”

Sam looked back at him in shock. “ _ What!?  _ No!”

A few people looked her way at her exclamation. She looked towards TJ and Cyrus but the two of them seemed to be two caught up with each other to have noticed her outburst. 

She lowered her voice again. “I just…” she trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence without embarrassing herself even more. 

John looked over to TJ and Cyrus again and then realization seemed to hit him. 

“Oh you like TJ?” He said in a whisper. Sam still shushed him and looked at him accusingly. 

John laughed but tried to stop when he saw that Sam was glaring at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said and almost managed to sound like he meant it. “But I’m afraid you don’t have any chances at all with TJ Kippen. He has only ever had eyes for Cyrus.”

Sam only sighed in response.

“I’m actually kind of surprised that you didn’t know about them. They’re a pretty big deal at the school and are both involved in a lot of school activities. They even started the first GSA club here at the school. They are kind of Grant High’s very own Barack and Michelle.”

Sam looked toward the boys as they started walking towards her and John. 

“Hey guys!” TJ said to them when they got closer. 

“What’s up,” John said and fist bumped both TJ and Cyrus.

“So Grants still hasn’t scared you off yet?” TJ said and smiled at Sam. 

Sam did her best to smile back at him and to her surprise it wasn’t that hard. She guessed TJ had that effect on people.

“Not yet,” she said.

“Sam’s new here,” TJ explained to Cyrus and the boy looked over to her. 

“Nice to meet you,” he said. “I’m Cyrus.” He gave her a friendly smile. His eyes were even bigger up close and were a rich brown. Sam could see why TJ liked him and she was happy that the thought didn’t fill her with jealousy.

She nodded and returned his smile. 

“Are you nervous for the games on Saturday?” TJ asked John. 

“Nah,” John said. “Don’t think I will face that much competition.” 

TJ and Cyrus both laughed at Johns blunt confidence. 

“Are you guys coming to watch?” John asked them.

“Yeah we were just talking about it.” Cyrus said and TJ nodded.

“Sweet,” John said.

The bell rang and they all said goodbye and hurried of to their classes.

  
  
  
  
  


“So it turns out Buffy isn’t TJ’s girlfriend,” Sam said as she sat down opposite Zoey at a table in the cafeteria. “In fact he doesn’t have a girlfriend at all and is apparently dating Cyrus Goodman.”

Zoey looked up from her phone and didn’t look surprised at all by this revelation. “So you finally figured it out huh?”

Sam looked at her with wide eyes. “You knew?” She said incredulously. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Zoey pointed a finger at her.

“I tried to tell you that time in the hallway,” she said defensively. “But you wouldn’t hear me out and then you just ran off to class.” Then she smirked. “And then I didn’t en up telling you later because the whole thing was kind of funny.”

Sam slumped forward on the bench and buried her face in her arms. She let out a frustrated sound.

“So how did you find out?” Zoey asked.

“At the game,” Sam said. “They kissed after they had won the game.”

She looked up at Zoey and saw the girl nodding her head. “Kinda sad that I wasn’t there to see your reaction to be honest.” 

Sam let out another frustrated sound and let her head fall down again. She felt Zoey’s hand on her arm.

“Hey I’m sorry your plan didn’t work out.” This time when Sam looked up she was meet with a sympathetic look. “But there are a hundred more decent guys at this school that would love to date you,” Zoey continued. She then shrugged and said, “and there is more to life than stupid boys you know.” 

Sam gave her a small smile. “I know. Thanks.” Zoey squeezed her arm lightly before releasing her and continued to eat her lunch. 

After a while Henry and John came and joined them and as she sat and listened to the boy’s story about what had happened in their biology class, Sam realized that another thing. 

Not only did she not need a boy to climb the schools hierarchy, but maybe she didn’t need to climb it at all. The only thing that mattered was that she had friends that she liked and had fun with and as she looked around at the people at her table she realized that she had just that. 

Even though she had only known them for about two weeks, she already had the comfortable feeling of being at ease with them. They joked around and teased each other. And when she was with them, the thought of spending the next two years here didn’t seem too bad. 

Her sappy thoughts were interrupted by John’s voice. 

“So did you guys know that Sam has a crush on TJ Kippen?” He gave her a mischievous grin.

Sam threw one of her fries at him.


End file.
